Artists in the Archives: Women in the Archive

 Join artists Alexa Frangos, Elaine Luther, xtine, Vicki Scheele, Nancy Bernardo, and American Studies Associate Professor Ellery Foutch in a conversation about the representation of women in the archives and the role artists can play in drawing out stories of women's lives and experiences in the past.

In the past, the history of women's lives and experiences was marginalized in favor of a "Great Man" approach to history, but in the last fifty years, greater attention to women's history has produced a rich understanding of women's lives in the past. Materials relevant to women’s studies are well-represented in the Stewart-Swift Research Center’s collections. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Stewart-Swift Research Center, the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History invited an international network of collage artists to engage with historic material in the archive and to create a folio of collage prints that reflect on the idea of community in a 21st century world. A number of artists focused on the stories of women from the past. Artists pursued their interest in the lives of women. Using letters of women working at textile mills in the 19th century, At the Loom by Illinois-based artist Alexa Frangos speaks to the experience of being forced to labor away from one’s community. Elaine Luther uses a 19th century advertisement for Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound which promised “a positive cure for all female complaints” to draw attention to the historical role women play as healers in the community. A Portrait of Emma Willard by xtine offers a dreamy meditation on the women’s education activist’s life and philosophy. Since 2004, the proportion of women in the archives profession has increased to 71%, a statistic that suggests women are playing a leading role in the preservation and care of history. Vicki Scheele‘s collage is an homage to the community of people who have maintained the Henry Sheldon Museum and the Stewart-Swift Research Center archives throughout its history. Nancy Bernardo draws upon early 20th century photographs of maids and laborers at The Breadloaf Inn to highlight unknown women and men who are integral to the infrastructure of a community. Bernardo is currently working with a group of collage artists to illustrate Kate Chopin's 1899 early feminist novel, The Awakening.